CBOT Muni Futures Open Interest Surges After Electronic Market Maker Program Launch

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT®) announced today that total open interest in its 10-Year Municipal Note Index futures contract has seen significant growth, with levels more than doubling since the launch of an Electronic Market Maker (EMM) program on January 3, 2005. Open interest climbed to 3,455 contracts on January 28, continuing the upward trend that started at the beginning of the year. CBOT President and CEO Bernard W. Dan said, “This increase in open interest attests to the success of the CBOT’s EMM program for 10-Year Municipal Note Index futures. With a market maker offering continuous two-sided markets on the Exchange’s premier electronic trading platform, the program has brought our customers worldwide even greater trading opportunities and further added to overall liquidity in the contract.” The CBOT appointed Alternative Strategy Advisers, LLC (ASA), a money management firm based in Minneapolis, Minn., as a market maker for 10-Year Municipal Note Index futures at the launch of the EMM program, which is effective between 7:20 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Central Time, Monday through Friday. The 10-Year Municipal Note Index futures contract includes up to 250 of the largest, most liquid, and most widely held issues and is a benchmark of the high-grade sector of the tax-exempt bond market.